Contributor.

Chris ClubbConvergence

Chris Clubb has 20 plus years of experience financing development projects in more than 50 emerging and frontier markets. Prior to joining Convergence, he was the director leading the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) financing/investment activities in its early transition countries where EBRD increased its annual investments five-fold to become the largest investor in these low-income countries. While at EBRD, Clubb innovated and implemented in partnership with more than 20 donors many of EBRD’s blended finance programs – including the leading local currency program for SME finance and development. Prior to EBRD, Clubb provided long-term financing to strategic European infrastructure projects while at European Investment Bank, provided cross-border financing to international buyers while at Export Development Canada, and started his banking/financing career in corporate banking at Toronto Dominion Bank. Clubb has held senior strategic risk management positions at EBRD and EDC, including the design and implementation of an enterprise-wide risk management framework.

Posts by Chris Clubb

WHO estimates that 39 million people suffer from blindness, more than half of them due to cataracts, and more than 90 percent of blind people live in the developing world. Cataracts are often curable but the traditional surgery is expensive. Convergence is supporting GlobalVision's plan to build on the affordable eye model that Aravind pioneered in India and establish a network of 60 eye care hospitals in emerging markets over the next 10 years, borrowing techniques from the microfinance sector.

The UN estimates it will take $3.9 trillion a year to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Based on current global development spending, that implies an annual funding shortfall of $2.5 trillion. Convergence describes how blended finance can bring together private and public investors to fill that gap.